Your post really hits home because our oldest momma kitty is named Prissy. The name fits her because she "rules the roost" over the older and much bigger male kitty and her two kittens (fully grown now). We used to have five kitties, but we now only have four. One of Prissy's kittens was "challenged" after being sick and running a high fever. I was afraid she was rabid and carefully chased her down and caught her after two days of trying. We got her to the vet who told us she didn't have rabies, but rather a virus that had caused high fever, evidently enough to do some brain damage. We called her Bluebell and she rapidly became the kitty we had to tolerate for her strange behavior and the hilarious way she ran with her rear end always getting ahead of her front end. Of course, with her motor functions damaged, she couldn't climb trees or do lots of normal things needed by a cat to be safe from predators.
We always keep our kitties in our garage at night. They go out during the day and come in at night to eat and sleep. I think that's the single most important thing we do to keep them safe from coyotes, owls, bobcats, and roving un-fixed feral male cats. All kitties have been spayed/neutered and have regular shots, so they are somewhat docile and very healthy. One day, Bluebell did not show up for dinner, and we searched and searched over our 22 acres, but could not find her. We never saw her after that. We don't know what predator got her, but we suspect coyotes.
